Hello everyone. Gulefritz with chapter 10 of Clash of Warriors.
Abit longer than the last chapter.
I am happy for all the positive feedback I've received. You guys rock!
Hope you will like it.
The long walk home from the Yungle-pass was quite a complicated experience for the furious five. The long lines of refugees were gone, meaning that no one were sending them weary or horrified looks, in fact all they had were open road. For that they were happy, no more conflict for them to handle, at least for now.
They had won a great victory against the Mongols. They had denied Temujin easy access to the cities of Yungle and Zhong-du. This had evidently allowed him to lay siege and destroy the imperial capital and ruined the heartland of the empire. But they had done so at great costs.
The anvil had lost a half of its warriors in the pass and earlier skirmishes. The surviving Thi-Dah forces under Prince Teemutai had been reduced by a third.
But worst of all, they lost Tai Lung.
The thought of having lost the snow leopard shocked everyone in the group of five, especially Tigress. She did not know what to tell master Shifu, she barely knew what to say herself. She simply sighed and tried to gather her thought as they walked down the road leading back to the valley. She could not believe he was gone, not so soon, not in times like this.
She tried to be strong, closing her hearth. She tried to show she could manage it, but her actions spoke through. Viper watched during the nights how her friend barely spoke or ate anything and occasionally, wept herself to sleep.
The march home was uneventful. The five had decided to walk back with the Anvil and Thi-Dah, leading the columns together with Vachir and Teemutai. This kept a fast pace for the entire column, but also that no trouble erupted between the five and the Thi-dah soldiers, who were still not happy with the tiger master, despite her fighting for them in the pass.
It was to stay like this, until they reached the last imperial outpost before the road reached a crossroad. One road lead to the valley, the other one straight to Zhong-du, the Imperial Capital. An imperial messenger, a cheetah, ran from the outpost to greet the commander in the field. He bowed before the rhino and handed him a message with the sigil of the court generals. The letter was assigned for the Anvil commander Vachir. He curses the moment he read the letter.
"Those damn savages!"
This caught the attention of the five but also Prince Teemutai of Thi-Dah. They all looked, waiting for Vachir to explain the content of the letter. The commander complied.
"The Manchurians has aligned themselves with the Mongols. The Manchurian warlords has united under two great armies, that are now ravaging our northern frontiers. Zhao Xien, the southern warlord, has launched an campaign into the southern regions and annihilated the imperial army bordering the tributary Kingdom of Korea and started has now started to pillage the peninsula, already pushing as far as Pyongjang. And while this is happening, the northern warlord, Cao Fen has started his own campaign from the northern part of Manchuria, already now pushing our army back to the great wall"
Teemutai and Tigress walked forward. The two of them looked at one another with a dubious look. Master Tigress steps back, giving the Thi-Dah prince a bow. She would let the prince speak first.
"You mean to say the Emperors army has been destroyed by savages. Did the Song rely fully on Thi-Dah for her defense? We need to get to Zheng-du now! Before it is too late"
Teemutai speaks in a mocking voice when he talks about the Song armies. Vachir simply shakes his head and looks to the five. Tigress steps forward and opens her mouth to speak. She spoke with great respect before the commander, keeping her tone low and humble.
"It is quite the situation commander and know this, you will have the full support of the Jade Palace. Unfortunately, I will have to inform you that we wont be accompanying you to Zhong-du. Master Shifu needs to know of what happened at the pass. We will depart from the group here and continue onto the valley but know this. We will come to the imperial capital as fast as possibly, this I promise."
Vachir smiled at Tigress and bowed before her, the Master of Tiger style bowing back. Prince Teemutai on the other hand simply snorted at the Kung Fu master, shaking his head mockingly at them.
"You are wasting your time with that old master. He did not go to face Temujin, not because he was old or training someone, but because he was afraid. We need to move to the capital now, your emperor need your service now, not later!"
All five Kung Fu masters glared at the buffalo who returned the glare. Some of his body guards moved up with hands on the hilts of their weapons. But before anyone could say or do anything, did Vachir raise his hand, speaking in a cold and angry voice, making the guards move back, their hands far away from the weapons.
"The son of the grandmaster fell in the pass. The greatest warrior to ever have served the empire fell in the pass. If anyone should know of this enemy, then it is Master Oogway and Master Shifu. They are allowed their return and for Shifu to know of what happened to Tai Lung. We will continue our march to Zhong-du. Hopefully, it will still stand when you arrive"
With that the rhino bowed before the masters, who bowed back. Teemutai shock his head before following the rhino who had walked off. The Anvil and Thi-Dah soldiers followed with their leaders, respectively.
It took the five another two days of travel before they got back to the Valley of Peace. The green grass and tall trees were a welcoming sight to the masters. The villagers were a truly heartwarming sight to see, that is until one of them decided to count the numbers of masters returning.
Initially all the city had cheered upon seeing their masters, but when they saw that Tai Lung was not around, that the snow leopard master did not return from the battle. When they saw the down looks of the masters, their beaten shapes did they immediately see that the snow leopard had fallen in battle. They turned from festive to a grieving attitude almost instantly. They bowed down before the masters as they passed and threw down small flowers before them, all looking down on the ground as the masters passed.
Atop the thousand stairs stood three individuals. Shifu, Oogway and Po. This sight shocked the five, as they expected the panda to be gone by now, but they didn't mind him. They had grave news to deliver to Shifu.
The five masters topped before the three individuals, all looking down in the ground. Shifu looked strict at all of them, raising his eyebrow at them. Finally, he opened his mouth in his usual cold voice.
"Where is Tai Lung? Why is he not amongst you?"
Silence followed. None of the five wanted to tell Shifu, their master, what had happened at the pass, what had happened to his adoptive son. Shifu was about to ask again, when Tigress finally spoke up.
"He fell in combat Master"
Shifu's facial expression changed to one of shock as he looked at the leader of the five. It was easy to see he did not believe what he was just told.
"What! How is this possible! Are you certain of this! Did you see his body!"
Tigress simply looked down at the ground as her adoptive father stormed forward, staring up at her. She could see the rage and shock in his face, but also grief. She had never seen Shifu grieve over anyone.
"Are you certain?! Tell me what happened!"
Shifu yelled the last part. This made both Po and Oogway stand forward, the turtle putting a hand on his friends. The red panda looked at the turtle, who were smiling down at his old friend. Oogway shook his head, telling him they will speak of it later, trying to calm the situation. The old turtle then looks to the panda.
"They will tell you soon enough. They have been through enough already. Also, we have a friend to introduce to them"
Oogway motioned for the panda standing beside the group who could only wave back at them. The turtle motioned him forward. Po spoke up, rather nervously but also very excited at the five.
"He-hello my name is P-Po. Oh gosh I am so excited to meet all of you! I know everything there is to know about every single one of you! Known since I was a small cub!"
Shifu cleared his throat, indicating the panda should get on with his story.
"Ohh yeah... As some of you know, I was picked to be the Dragon Warrior. I've been training with Shifu and he says I am improving very fast"
All the five nodded at the panda, not giving him much thought, except for Tigress who glared back at the bowing panda. The panda gulped as he saw the angry glare from the feline warrior, making him take a step back almost tripping. Shifu intervened immediately.
"Tigress! What is the meaning of this!"
She pointed an accusing claw at Shifu, the master of the tiger style clearly furious. Her rage didn't seem to make any impact on the iron resolve of the grandmaster of the Jade palace, but she didn't seem to care about his resolve either.
"Tai Lung was deemed unworthy after having spend all of his life to become the dragon warrior, but this panda, this big fat panda, get it handed to him on a silver platter! Tai Lung died believing he was worthy, and this is how we repay his trust in us! This is how we repay him? By pissing on his wishes!"
Shifu simply shook his head and waved her off. Her words had stung, but he shook his head, trying his best to keep calm in the situation.
"It is not a student's place to question his or her master's decision. Tai Lung was not worthy of the scroll, this panda on the other hand, is"
Tigress looked ready to start another round of discussion and yelling, when Oogway stepped in, making the tiger step back.
"Tai Lung was one of the most devout to the scrolls. He has one of the biggest potentials in Kung Fu I've ever seen, surpassing anyone I've seen before, even Shifu here"
The red panda raised his eyebrow at the old turtle. Did he just say Tai Lung is more powerful than me?
"But... He may be stubborn, he may have the hearth the right place, but he doesn't do it for the right reasons. He does it for glory and honor. Shifu's honor to be precise. For that he is not worthy"
"Was not ready you mean" Tigress shot in "He is dead after all"
Oogway smiled at her with a weird smile, making the tiger, making all the masters around her uncomfortable. He simply shook his head.
"Are you certain child? Just because someone is not here, he or she is dead?"
This caught Shifu's attention, looking at the old turtle.
"You mean to tell us Tai Lung is still alive?"
Oogway shook his head and waved him off.
"I never said that"
Silence ensued between the groups. The five looked at the turtle, while Shifu looked down into the ground, not happy about the situation. Suddenly Po opened his mouth.
"Hey, I think everyone is tired and hungry from a long day. Why don't we go inside, I make some food, and then we discuss what happened in the pass?"
Oogway immediately smiled at the panda, welcoming his attitude.
"It is a good idea. Everyone put your things in your rooms. I will be in the temple if needed"
With that the old turtle started to walk towards the jade temple. He, despite being rather old, opened the door without trouble, and walked inside, out of sight of every master standing outside. Tigress were the first to move, moving past her adoptive father and went straight for her room.
Tigress walked down the dorms, pausing half-way down. She lived in the room next door, but she had to stop here. She was at Tai Lungs door.
She didn't know what to think at this hour. She liked to think that Oogway meant something, that Tai Lung is still alive, but Oogway didn't see the power of the Mongols, she did. He didn't see the thunderstorm that formed, she did.
"No. He can't be alive"
Already now she remembered all the good moments she had with the older leopard. He was quite distant most of the time, focusing fully on his training, but when she was young did, he use to help her train, but he also did something Shifu never did.
He acted like a family member to her.
Tai Lung acted like a big brother to her. He took her down to the village to buy things for the palace. He took her down into the city to meet people, eat at the local noddle restaurant and one of her biggest favorites. He took her into the mountains. Up in the mountains, the two felines went star gazing.
She remembered how the two of them were lying on top of one of the many plateaus around the valley, huddled together while lying on their backs and simply looked at the many star patterns and constellations.
Tigress shook out of the memory as she heard steps in the dorms. She looked down, looking straight into the green eyes of the panda. She growled at him and walked straight for her room, slamming her paper door behind her, as much as the door would allow.
Tigress sat down on her mattress. She sits down in a meditative stance, trying to clear her mind, get her to other thoughts. Slowly but surely, she went from a siting pose to a lying pose. Slowly the master of tiger style fell into a dreamless sleep.
Meanwhile, Shifu had talked with he remaining members of the five and they all explained to him what they encountered in the pass and of course of the two other armies, ravaging northern China.
He didn't know what to do. He had lost his son fighting the Mongol Khan, but now is not the time to be weak and stay back. Was he ready to send his students out again, right after he lost his son and strongest student?
Shifu shook his head and walked into the temple, looking forward, eyeing Oogway meditating on his staff. The turtle felt the red panda's presence and jumped down from the staff, looking at his friend with a smile.
"Something is troubling you"
Shifu looked at Oogway with an angry look, something the turtle simply shrugged off.
"How can't I be troubled! A nomad invader has started the hardest war we have ever faced! He has already ruined Thi-Dah, ruined the northern armies and.. and.."
Shifu was unable to say the last sentence. Oogway walked over and put his hand on the red panda's shoulder.
"Why is the fallen gone? Do you not still honor him? Do you not still mourn him? Tai Lung might be dead, but he is gone"
Shifu simply shook his head and looked down at the ground. He looked back up at the smiling face of Oogway.
"Master... what should I do?"
Oogway laughed at the red panda, shaking his head at him.
"I don't know"
Oogway started walking outside, motioning Shifu to followed him. Night had fallen on the valley outside and lights were illuminating the valley below. Their were many stars, lighting up the mountain. Servants were walking around the palace grounds, lighting up blazers.
Oogway lead the two up the stairs leading to the peach tree of heavenly wisdom. He stopped by the tree, letting out a sigh as he looked up at the blossoming tree. The tree was filled with pink and white flowers, aswell with a few peaches. Oogway smiled as he saw a few were missing.
"Seems the panda has found the tree"
The sound of Po cursing can be heard in the background and a shadow can be seen quickly moving down the stairs, away from the tree. The two grand masters simply shook their heads. Shifu turned back to look at Oogway.
"Why are we at the tree master?"
Oogway smiled down at the red panda, laughing even as if it was the funniest question someone had asked of him.
"Is there a reason for us to go here? Does everything need a reason?"
"Does this mean there is no reason for us going out here?"
Oogway shook his head at Shifu, his smile slowly fading and turns to look out over the mountains behind the Jade mountain.
"I did not say that. I brought you here Shifu, because our journey has come to an end"
Shifu looks shocked at the turtle. He kept looking at the turtle, the red panda completely confused about what is going on. Shifu felt as if something or someone were overlooking them. He shrugged it off and focused on his master, as something extraordinary happened.
"I've walked this earth long enough. The masters of the spirit realm, the plains of chi, call for me. You are now -the- Grandmaster of the Jade Palace"
The old turtle suddenly begins illuminate with a very bright light. The wind suddenly goes strong and the peach petals are blown off from the tree, enveloping the turtle. Shifu watches as his master slowly disappears into the night.
Minutes later and the light fades. All there is left behind is the turtle staff. Shifu looks at the staff and goes to pick it up. Shifu didn't know what to think. First Tai Lung now Oogway. The goods were truly testing his resolve.
Shifu looked into the air as the peach petals flew out of sight. He smiled at the smooth movement. His smile turned into a frown as he saw storm clouds in the distance.
"You have stepped over the line Mongol! I will avenge my son, we will not break!"
With that I end chapter 10 of Clash of Warriors. Hope you liked it, please read, review and tell me what you thought. Any feedback is welcome to me.